Hmmm… another missing book. It seems I don’t have a very good loaner system. I keep loaning out books, dvds, etc… but they don’t seem to ever return. Most mornings I would probably consternate over that a bit more (a bit more than I should even 😉 BUT, not this morning. Today I head North.

Shortly (after packing, iPod prep, haircut, etc…) I will leave my wonderful wife and four chillens and turn my truck northward… to the ‘Dacks’ as my good brother Rob calls it! The Adirondacks are a beautiful place and that’s where I will go for a few days of silence and solitude with my Counselor and King.

There is both a sense of desperation and delight as I go… I really need to get away and get quiet before my God, who knows All; I need to remember that. Ezekiel understood and responded well in Ez. 37:3, ‘O Lord GOD, you know’. In this, I am desperate. There is alot here in NJ world that seems upside down and out of place and it’s shaking me. In this, I also delight. God’s word is clear.. His intentions are clear. He is preparing me for another home, another dwelling place.

I am finding the rejoicing in my heart being overwhelmed and so I am turning my attention to the God of all wisdom and the God of peace to meet my need.

The book I was looking for a moment ago was Don Whitney’s ‘Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life’… a very good book and one that has a chapter on the discipline of silence and solitude. I hoped to refresh my thoughts on this chapter before heading on my way. Oh well… perhaps the borrower is being blessed by it today?

I also look forward to the weekend ahead as my eldest son, Luke (16) will join me in the ‘Dacks’ for the ABC Men’s Retreat. His first. Our first. I love these retreats… solid teaching from the Word… incredible times of worship and singing… sweet fellowship with the church of Jesus Christ! A taste of heaven! Luke and I will room together, talk together, pray together, be taught together, fellowship together, Worship our Lord and Savior… together!

By God’s grace and pleasure, it will be a ‘good’ five days away from life in New Jersey. And then I will return home to my Amanda and my other three chillens. That will be really cool too!

see! even here in the Dacks, I’m tempted and drawn away… this time by an open laptop and the temptation to manage emails… lol. I am weak. But it was a blessing too to hear from you guys.
Blaine, knowing you get up here to the VT area, I encourage you to bring your bike and camera and spend some time over here in Speculator/Piseco,NY. Beautiful scenery, uncluttered roadways along the rivers and lakes with a few sweet twisties and sweepers, and if you can visit with the church at Adirondack Bible Chapel… you will be blessed!
Chris, good to know you didn’t make off with my book! 😉 Which ones have you lost to someone else’s dust collection? I figure one day they’ll see it and remember… cringe and then hopefully pass it along to bless someone else. Btw, I actually do have a getaway… most every morning I’m up early and off to the quietness of the basement to my desk where the past three years the Lord has been meeting with me and speaking through His Word. That is my most favorite time of day. Everyone else asleep… quiet… and the day is fresh. And yes ABC… it was actually thru Kim’s blog mention of your blog on the Hiding Place that I came to your site. Pretty cool how God feeds us and meets our needs. The ABC retreat is where I first heard Don Whitney speaking several years ago. One of the guys Nate discipled became our youth pastor (Camlon Rooke) and God used him in my life in a big way.
Mike, I fully expect to hear you before I see you on Friday! hahaha …and thoroughly looking forward to it!
Guys… if you could see the view I have right now…. God is good!

Some favorite Truths…

1 Pet 4:12 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

1 Thes 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Jer 9:23-24 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

Prov 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

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